Caddihoe Day 1

Wow, great weather, fantastic organisation, good courses (albeit a little on the short side) and a fantastic start to the two days. I didnt think the area was anything like as rough as it had been painted, but perhaps the excelent planning by Roger Crickmore had kept my course to the better areas. To be honest I would rather a shorter course in the better areas than extend the course into the rough stuff just to get the length. Tomorrow seems more like the required length. Looking at the start times there will be some great races in the forest. Bill Vigar and Mike Crocket for instance starting 11 seconds apart. Have a good run and enjoy the day. Lets hope for more of the same weather.

Hardy Relay

Great day, many thanks to all those who pulled together to put on the event. Terrific weather and a very relaxed atmosphere - probably due to the fairly late start. Was certainly good from an organisers point of view. Vets class won by Sarum and the Open class result was in doubt right untill the last with Wessex Raiders only taking the lead between the last control and the finish on the last leg.

Furrow Hoppers

Great win by Wessex Raiders of Kay & Ian Sayer, Rob Hick, Dale and me. We were magnificently supported by two other Wessex Teams; Wessex Runners and Wessex Rovers, who had mixed fortunes but still managed to finish without being dq'd (something QO couldn't manage). Many thanks to Graham Whiffen and Gorden Raggett who both stepped in at the last minute to make up the teams. Tale of Wessex Raiders (who won by 10 minutes incedently) is (apart from Dale running incredibly fast as usual). On Course A Rob beat Gavin by 3 seconds, alegedly I made a 90 degree error coming out of number 2 and lost 90 seconds. Dale beat us both by 3 minutes and that was on his 3rd run as well!. Course B Ian had a superb run and beat Rob by 5 seconds - Dale beat them both by 3 minutes! Course C the Map Memory I at least managed to keep Dales win down to 49 seconds with Rob having a solid run apart from 60 seconds lost at control 5 (Control 1 was excluded from times as it was incorrectly numbered). Course D went as planned but the timing of Ians first control is odd and I suspect the dibber was programmed to start a minute late. This means that D course time should be 1 minute longer but it doesnt affect the results. Another excellent day in the sunshine as due to QO's disqualification we just have to completed a team run at the Devon Relays next weekend to retain the Chairmans Trophy. If this is the case we could have some fun at the Hardy relays and attempt to put four equal ability teams in. Now there's a thought. Thanks to Dale for organising the teams for this summers entertainment.

Guildford City Race

Great day on Saturday in the blazing sunshine. Drove up with Dale and had the roof down. Think it must have gone to his head as by his own admission he messed up controls 7 to 15!!! Could have been a convincing win and a shedload of ranking points but he had to settle for 2nd behind Richard Barrett. I managed a creditable 1st place on what was an excellently planned course. At one T junction I went left, turned round and went right then backtracked having decided left was the correct choice (which it wasnt!!!). Thats the sort of thing fast street racing does to you.

Summer Relays

Great start to the series with a convincing win at NWO. Well done Dale, Rob, Tim and Richard. Wimbournes challenge failed to materialisebut I suspect there will be a bit more competition at Liegh Woods, Bristol for the Adams Avery trophy next weekend. I would have liked to have been with the lads yesterday but spent it in Hyde Park listening to Sir Paul - just amazing. Check out youtube to see the concert.

British Sprint Championships

Very good results from the British Sprint Championships held yesterday at HMS Sultan. In the over 45’s Dale Paget took the Silver medal, beating Clive Hallett and Roger Thetford in the two combined sprint races. The winner was David Rollins currently ranked 38th in the country.

In the over 55’s I also took silver only 8 seconds down. The winner being James Crawford the 2008 M50 World Champion. Full results and pictures are available on the BAOC website: http://www.baoc.org.uk/

If you havnt tried Spint or Urban O what are you waiting for - its great fun.

Poole AC evening at Upton House

Just to report on the success of last nights event for Poole AC run at Upton House (exactly as we did for Poole Runners last year). They all seemed to enjoy themselves and most took away fliers of our next events and said they would like to come along – so hopefully they will. Tim & Alan had fun trying out the new computers and as Alan said its great to try everything out at a ‘live’ event. Both Tim & Alan seemed pleased with how things went. We had about 35 people taking part and Poole AC even gave us a cheque for £40.

Southern Championships

Wow, what a great days sport. On the drive back I had an almost permanant grin. OK I hadn't orienteered particularly well due to my lack of fitness, but it was just one of those days that makes you glad to be alive. Runing though the pristine snow, as I was one of the first off, sun shining (had a touch of snowblindness at one point!). Deer. Various birds of prey, some very tough courses (not just mine judging from the winning times). Was talking to Liz and was reminded of the old orinteering maxim that the worse the weather the more you should make the effort to turn up so all the work done by the helpers dont go to waste. If you missed this event you missed a treat.

Training

Well managed a run round Holes Bay yesterday. 6 miles in 44m 30s not brilliant but the knee only hurt for the first 10 minutes. Its a bit swollen this morning but lets see how tomorrow nights hills go.